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Apple could be planning to kill iTunes for Windows too

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iTunes for Windows
iTunes for Windows might be split up.
Photo: Apple/Cult of Mac

Windows users might not have to use iTunes much longer. Mac users were freed from this often-criticized multimedia software by macOS Catalina, but it lives on computers running Microsoft’s operating system.

However, Apple seems to be staffing up to create a replacement for Windows too.

Want a 16-inch MacBook Pro? Sell your old model for the best price!

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MacBook-Pro-display
Selling your old MacBook is easier than you think.
Photo: Tianyi Ma/Unsplash

Apple’s long-awaited 16-inch MacBook Pro is on sale now, and it’s (almost) everything we hoped it would be. If you’re lusting after one, Cult of Mac’s buyback program can help make it more affordable.

We pay great prices for used MacBook, MacBook Air, and MacBook Pro units — and we make the whole process quick and simple. We also cough up real cash, so you can spend it anywhere you like.

How to highlight text and add post-its in Safari

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Highlighter for Safari.
Highlight in Safari.
Photo: Denise Jans/Unsplash

There are a handful of webpages I keep referring back to, often reading the same parts over and over. They may be part of an instruction manual, or other reference material1. And sometimes, while researching an article, I want to highlight sections and phrases to find them more easily. Just like using a highlighter marker on a sheet of paper.

Until now, I’ve never found good way to do it. Apps required me to sign up for an account, or store my highlights on their servers, or pay a subscription. Or the app was just plain clunky. Then I found Highlighter for Safari.

The best accessories for your new 16-inch MacBook Pro

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WaterField Designs Executive Leather Laptop Briefcase
Bag 'em! It's time to accessorize that monster laptop.
Photo: WaterField Designs

Your shiny new 16-inch MacBook Pro arrives this week, and of course you want to deck it out with all the latest accessories. What you need will depend on what you use your computer for, but almost everyone will want a case, a keyboard and a mouse. And there are plenty of other MacBook Pro accessories you might need to get the job done.

Check out our guide for dongles, cables and even battery packs that will help you get the most out of your new MacBook Pro.

Crafty covers turn your AirPods into a turkey

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This turkey-shaped crochet AirPods cover is the baste.
This AirPods cover is the baste.
Photo: Dana Davis

Crafty entrepreneurs came up with a fun way to make your AirPods — or at least the charging case they come in — stand out. Crochet AirPods covers ensure that nobody will mistake that little white case for a pack of dental floss.

If you feel like dismissing crochet as something from your grandmother’s era, you haven’t looked around your coffeeshop, bus or subway car recently. If you do, you might notice that a new, hip generation of creators discovered this analog textile art.

Take your pick of 4 super-handy power banks on sale today [Deals]

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Power Bank Sale
We've rounded up a wide range of seriously discounted power banks.
Photo: Cult of Mac Deals

You likely never leave home without your mobile devices. Unfortunately, our phones and tablets aren’t (yet) solar-powered, so you shouldn’t be leaving without a backup power bank, either. That’s why we rounded up four of the best portable power packs we’ve seen.

From uber-slim to super-small to mega-capacity, there’s something here to match anyone’s day-to-day needs — and they’re all discounted heavily right now.

Teardown shows 16-inch MacBook Pro is full of Magic Keyboard goodness

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16-inch MacBook teardown by iFixit
Explore the inside of the new 16-inch MacBook with a teardown by iFixit.
Photo: iFixit

Disassembling the new 16-inch MacBook Pro finds plenty to like. There’s a keyboard that’s almost certainly more reliable, a revamped thermal system and a bigger battery.

On the other side of the coin, repair company iFixit did a teardown and gives this laptop a low, low rating for repairability.

Pure Acid, the best drum and bass machine on the iPad (and iPhone!)

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Pure acid
Here’s Pure Acid with a fetching gold makeover.
Photo: Charlie Sorrel/Cult of Mac

Pure Acid is a bass synthesizer and drum machine app for the iPad, and it might just be the best drum machine app ever. It is, for me, the first app that actually feels like you’re using physical drum machine hardware instead of just another touchscreen app. Part of this is down to the one-screen interface, where everything is (mostly) always in the same spot — just like real buttons. And part is due to the app design genius of Pure Acid’s creator, Dmitrij Pavlov (aka Jim Pavloff).

13-inch MacBook Pro dropping horrible Butterfly keyboard

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13-inch MacBook Pro from 2019
It's about time!
Photo: Apple

The smaller MacBook Pro will reportedly be upgraded next year with a keyboard that users can trust, just as the new 16-inch version recently was.

If true, it means the current 13-inch MacBook Pro will be the last with the infamous Butterfly keyboard.

How to crop, straighten and unskew photos on iPad and iPhone

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Crop photos
It’s not better, but it offers a different perspective.
Photo: Charlie Sorrel/Cult of Mac

You’ve always been able to crop photos on your iPhone and iPad. It’s easy to “zoom” into your images, cutting out cruft and distraction at the edges of the frame to focus on what’s important. But now, in iOS 13 and iPadOS, you can do more than crop and chop. Now you also can skew images — aka correct perspective errors — all inside the Photos app’s edit mode.

You can do all kinds of things with this new Photos tool. If you snapped a picture of a painting in the gallery, and didn’t hold your iPhone parallel to the wall, you can fix that. Or you can get more radical, perhaps by “fixing” an image of a skyscraper to stop it from disappearing to a point in the distance. The good news is that these perspective tools are fun and easy to use. Let’s check them out.

Here’s a smart home cam with facial recognition, night vision and more for under $45 [Deals]

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blurams Dome Pro
This highly rated smart home camera can be your extra layer of protection.
Photo: Cult of Mac Deals

Home security cam shoppers are always looking for that middle ground between a feature-laden device and the sticker shock that usually comes with such units.

The Blurams Dome Pro 1080p Security Camera hits that sweet spot. It packs loads of high-quality, super-cool extras into a versatile, modestly priced package that should fit most user’s security needs.

16-inch MacBook Pro shows the advantages of a post-Jony Ive Apple [Opinion]

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The 16-inch MacBook Pro isn’t quite as svelte as it could be.
The 16-inch MacBook Pro isn’t quite as svelte as it could be. And that’s good news.
Photo: Apple

The new 16-inch MacBook Pro is a sign of a fundamental shift at Apple: It includes a keyboard that makes this laptop slightly less stylish but more useful. It’s hard to believe this would have happened in the days when chief designer Jony Ive’s habit of putting form ahead of function still reigned supreme over all Apple’s products.

As Ive slowly exits the company, we’re already seeing products less willing to make compromises in functionality in order to get super-sleek looks.

Tapplock One+ biometric padlock easily secures your valuables [Review]

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Tapplock One+ review
Open a gate or unlock your bike at just the press of a finger with Tapplock One+.
Photo: Ed Hardy/Cult of Mac

The combination lock you used in school is a dinosaur now. It’s been replaced with much smarter versions like Tapplock One+. This has a fingerprint scanner, and a Bluetooth connection to your iPhone. It’s a padlock with no key to lose or combination to memorize.

Unlock the details in our in-depth review.

Master all of Adobe CC with this comprehensive 40-hour course bundle [Deals]

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The School of Graphic Design Mastery Bundle
Learn the foundations of graphic design with these seven courses.
Photo: Cult of Mac Deals

Just because you’ve got a well tuned aesthetic sense or strong visual eye doesn’t mean you can jump into the graphic design field. To get working in the design game, you need a firm command of the core principles and key tools used by industry professionals.

Sayonara Wild Hearts is Apple Arcade’s wildest ride [Review]

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Sayonara Wildhearts on Apple Arcade
Sayonara Wild Hearts is fast-paced fun, with a great beat.
Photo: Apple

Speed and techno-pop blend in Sayonara Wild Hearts, one of the best titles on Apple Arcade. Ride a motorcycle, fly or battle opponents to the beat of the music.

Read on to see why everyone with a subscription to Apple’s gaming service should be playing this new offering.

16-inch MacBook Pro is here at last! [Cult of Mac Magazine 323]

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We've been waiting. And waiting. And waiting. Now the 16-inch MacBook Pro is here!
We've been waiting. And waiting. And waiting.
Cover: Leander Kahney/Cult of Mac

Apple unleashed the 16-inch MacBook Pro this week, delivering a powerful beast of a machine that answers many of our prayers. That butterfly keyboard? Gone, replaced with a Magic Keyboard. And those thermal throttling problems? Supposedly fixed forever.

Sure, we found a couple of not-so-happy surprises. But all in all, we feel just a little bit giddy. Find out all the reasons why in this week’s issue of Cult of Mac Magazine. You can download it free from the iOS App Store. As always, it’s jammed full of Apple news, reviews and how-tos.

Pick up a full kit of MFi-certified charging gear for $25 [Deals]

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MFi Certified Sleek Canvas Complete Charging Collection
This kit includes wall chargers, portable battery, and a reinforced Lightning cable so you'll never have to worry about losing juice.
Photo: Cult of Mac Deals

Staying charged on the go takes a lot of effort, and a lot of gear. From backup batteries to adapters to cables that won’t break after just a few uses, that can all add up. Luckily, this kit includes everything you’ll need to reliably juice up your phone or tablet, so you can travel without worrying about your next charge.

Forget the MacBook Air. Roll your own Apple ‘laptop’ for less than $600.

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The Brydge Keyboard on the 10.2 iPad
An iPad with a Brydge keyboard is a pretty good replacement for a Mac!
Photo: Ian Fuchs/Cult of Mac

A year ago, when Apple introduced the latest iPad Pro models, I called the tablet the computer for everywhere. To this day, I still think the 2018 iPad Pro, complete with Apple Pencil and Smart Keyboard Folio, is an incredible setup for tons of situations. At the same time, it’s anything but cheap, starting at $1,107 for an 11-inch model with keyboard and Pencil.

Then there’s the Mac laptop lineup. Apple’s current cheapest offering is the MacBook Air, also starting at $1,100. Fortunately, you don’t have to drop over a grand to get an incredibly versatile, powerful, and portable budget laptop made by Apple.

This essential iPad shortcut lets you instantly preview any file

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Add Quick Look to the Files app. Sometimes I think it was easier the old way.
Sometimes I think it was easier the old way.
Photo: Maksym Kaharlytskyi/Unsplash

The iPadOS Files app isn’t bad, but it has one super-frustrating flaw. While you can now enjoy multiple windows, hook up any and all USB drives, and even connect to network servers, you can’t do one simple thing: Preview a file. Or rather, you can preview any file, just by clicking on it, but you never know whether Files will actually show you a Quick Look preview, or just open that file in an arbitrary app.

Today, we will add a dedicated Quick Look entry to the Files app share menu. Never again will you tap to preview a file and have it launch an app instead.

iPhone 11 Pro camera holds its own against $20,000 Leica

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Sawyer Hartman compares iPhone 11 Pro to Leica
The iPhone 11 Pro gave a mind-blowing performance against a Leica.
Screenshot: Sawyer Hartman/YouTube

YouTube is full of photographers comparing their professional kits with the latest iPhone camera.

But a recent test and conclusion by Sawyer Hartman risked sounding blasphemes. Could a $1,300 iPhone 11 Pro outshoot $20,000 worth of some of the best gear produced by the iconic German brand, Leica?

That may depend on who’s looking.

Germany says Apple must let other payment services use iPhone’s NFC

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Apple Pay Terminal
¡Es inminente!
Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac

A new German law forces Apple to allow other mobile payment services to use NFC on iPhone.

Apple has allowed only Apple Pay to take advantage of the technology until now. But Germany has decided that it won’t stand for that anymore — despite Apple’s concerns.

Forget iCloud and snag one of these cloud storage options on sale today [Deals]

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Cloud Backup Main CoM
Score massive deals on 2, 5, and even 10TB cloud storage options.
Photo: Cult of Mac Deals

Cloud storage is an essential tool these days. But unfortunately, it can cost sky-high prices (see what we did there?). So we rounded up three incredible price drops on top-tier cloud storage solutions, including options for 2, 5 and a mind-boggling 10 terabytes of storage. We’re not even sure how to use that much storage, but at more than 90% off, we’re pretty sure you can afford it.